Maryland to Add Four E85 Stations

Ethanol Producer Magazine reports that Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown recently annouced plans to build four new E85 fueling facilities in the state. The facilities are tentatively planned for Easton, Hagerstown, La Plata, and Salisbury, Maryland. The governor also announced that state flexible fuel vehicles will use E85 at the newly installed pumps at the Maryland State Police barracks and State Highway Administration facilities.

“As the state purchases new vehicles for its fleet, more and more of our cars, trucks and vans will run on alternative fuels,” said O’Malley. “With these new E85 facilities, we’ll continue to make Maryland’s transportation fleet less dependant on fossil fuels, strengthening the energy future of our state for generations to come.”

“Our commitment to strengthening our sustainable future for our children is evident in the investments we make,” said Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown. “Maryland will stand up for the environment and future generations by investing in sound, renewable energy policies like the construction of facilities like these.”

The governor also announced that the Department of General Services were to use a five percent blend of biodiesel in the state vehicle fleet when possible.

Biodiesel, E85, Flex Fuel Vehicles, News

Nebraska Governor Urges Ethanol Unity

Cindy Zimmerman

Governor HeinemanNebraska Governor Dave Heineman is calling on the agriculture industry to stick together on the issue of ethanol.

As keynote speaker at the 21st Ethanol Conference and Trade Show in Omaha Wednesday, Gov. Heineman noted that Nebraska is a large livestock producing state, as well as the nation’s number two ethanol producing state. “Corn-based ethanol is going to be around for a long time,” he said. “We can’t do it without a successful livestock industry. We need to stay united.”

Governor Heineman“Nebraska and America need a strong ethanol industry and Nebraska and America need a strong livestock industry,” Heineman stressed. “One cannot succeed without the other. America’s agriculture industry must remain united in support of a strong ethanol industry and a strong livestock industry. America must become energy independent and ethanol is one step in that process.”

After his address, Linda Kuester of Husker Ag presented the governor with the “200 Proof Ethanol Award” in honor of her husband Gary Kuester. The award is given annually to honor an individual for promotion of the ethanol industry in Nebraska.


See the ACE 2008 Photo Album here

ACE, Ethanol, Government, News

Supplying Needs for Animal and Ethanol Plant Health

Cindy Zimmerman

With increased feed costs, the ethanol and livestock industries have seemed to be at odds lately. But one company exhibiting at the 2008 Ethanol Conference and Trade Show supplies the needs of both sectors with key products and services.

PhibroPhibroChem is a specialty chemicals supplier featuring key products for a variety of industries, including ethanol. One of their main products is Lactrol, which is used during the process of alcoholic fermentation to prevent or reduce the potential yield loss caused by strains of lactic acid bacteria.

“Lactrol has been in the ethanol industry globally for 30 years,” said PilbroChem president Mike Giambalvo.

PhibroChem is a division of Phibro Animal Health Corporation, which is a global company focused on the manufacturing and marketing of animal health care products, agricultural and industrial chemicals and services. Giambalvo says they are therefore very interested in the health of both the livestock and ethanol industries.

“We believe there can be harmony and we have three businesses that address the needs of the ethanol industry and the animal health and nutrition industry,” Giambalvo said. “We see the whole picture, the value of not just the ethanol, but the co-products that come out of there and end up in the animal feed and nutrition business.”

Giambalvo believes they have a great story to tell and they just hired a person who has many years of experience in the agriculture and ethanol industries to help them do that. Tom Slunecka is former executive director of the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council, and prior to that worked for the National Corn Growers Association and agribusiness companies such as Monsanto. “People in the ethanol industry know our product,” Giambalvo says. “Now they need to get to know the people and the company behind it and we think Tom will help us accomplish that.”

Mike and Tom are pictured at their ACE trade show booth.

Listen to an interview with Mike Giambalvo from the ACE conference:
[audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/ace/ace-phibro.mp3]


See the ACE 2008 Photo Album here

ACE, Distillers Grains, EPIC, Ethanol, News

POET Announces Cellulosic Ethanol Pilot Plant

Cindy Zimmerman

POETAt the 21st annual American Coalition for Ethanol conference on Wednesday, POET CEO Jeff Broin announced that the company will complete construction on a $4 million pilot-scale cellulosic ethanol production facility by the end of this year.

The pilot plant will be adjacent to POET’s corn ethanol pilot facility and a nine million gallon per year ethanol production facility in Scotland, SD and will allow the company to build upon recent technology advances before starting construction on Project LIBERTY, their commercial cellulosic production facility, next year.

POET Jeff Broin at ACE“Our expanded research effort has led to several significant strides in the development of cellulosic ethanol technology at the lab scale in recent months,” said Broin. “Construction of this pilot facility will allow our company to take the next step toward the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol.”

Broin says he is more confident about the future of cellulosic ethanol than ever before. “In the past few months, our scientists have been able to achieve significant ethanol percentages in fermentation and improve the yield of ethanol from biomass. Additionally, in our work with farmers and agricultural equipment manufacturers, we had a very successful harvest of corn cobs last fall and anticipate further advances during an expanded harvest this fall.”

During the 2007 harvest, POET worked with major agricultural equipment manufacturers to harvest 4,000 acres of corn grain and cobs from a farmer’s field in Southeastern South Dakota. Cobs from this fall’s harvest and last will serve as the feedstock for the cellulosic pilot plant, along with corn fiber extracted from the adjacent corn ethanol production facility with POET’s proprietary fractionation process, BFRAC™.

Listen to an interview with Jeff Broin from the ACE conference regarding the announcement:
[audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/ace/ace08-broin.mp3]


See the ACE 2008 Photo Album here

ACE, Cellulosic, Ethanol, News

Hydrogen Road Tour Underway

John Davis

A 13-day cross-country road tour running on hydrogen kicked off this week in Portland, Maine and will wrap up in Los Angeles, CA… 31 stops and 18 states later, hoping to convince the public that hydrogen is the fuel of the future.

This story from the New York Times says eight different car makers started the tour… with the American companies conspicuously absent. But General Motors, which has put more a billion dollars in hydrogen technology, joins the tour in New York, Washington and Los Angeles:

The 2008 Hydrogen Road Tour includes some highly touted, state-of-the-art technologies like the Honda FCX Clarity fuel-cell sedan, which has a 280-mile range on four kilograms of hydrogen (the energy equivalent of four gallons of gasoline) compressed at 5,000 pounds per square inch. The tour also showcases some fuel-cell vehicles that have been less frequently seen on U.S. roads, including the Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage FCEVs, Nissan X-Trail FCV and Volkswagen HyMotion Tiguan.

The odd man out is the BMW Hydrogen 7, which burns super-cold cryogenic liquid hydrogen; BMW claims that emissions from the Hydrogen 7 are actually cleaner than the ambient air.

The Hydrogen Road Tour is co-sponsored by the National Hydrogen Association, the Department of Energy, the Department of Transportation and the California Fuel Cell Partnership.

Hydrogen

Ethanol Industry Meets in Omaha

Cindy Zimmerman

ACE 1The 21st Ethanol Conference & Trade Show is underway in Omaha with the theme “Fueling Revolution.” The event kicked off officially with the opening of the trade show at the Qwest Center.

The conference is expected to draw more than 1,200 attendees, with more than 200 companies represented at the trade show. Topics that will be covered during sessions over the next two days include ethanol blender pumps and mid-range blends, innovations in corn ethanol, cellulosic ethanol commercialization and feedstock logistics, and much more.

ACE 2Prior to the start of the conference, the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) held its annual business meeting and voted to expand their board of directors. The ACE board now includes representatives from Fagen, ICM, Nebraska Ethanol Board and Missouri Corn Growers.

“ACE has always prided itself on being the grassroots voice of the industry, and today we’re proud to expand our board of directors to better represent the industry as a whole by adding two leading companies and two grassroots organizations,” said Brian Jennings, Executive Vice President of ACE.

ACE is also offering a new blog to follow the convention proceedings – at ethanol.typepad.org.

See the ACE 2008 Photo Album here

ACE, conferences, Ethanol, News

John Deere, Clean Fuels Clearinghouse Announce Partnership

John Davis

John Deere Agri Services has teamed up with Clean Fuels Clearinghouse, developer of the RINSTAR™ Renewable Fuel Registry, to provide Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) and reports that meet the requirements of the Renewable Fuel Standard.

This press release from John Deere says AGRIS V9 system users will be integrated with the RINSTAR solution:

The RIN-based system was created to identify, measure, and track batches of renewable fuel. RINs are unique serial numbers that renewable fuel producers or importers assign to each batch of fuel produced or imported and must be reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and listed on product transfer documents if the batch is transferred to another party. Each year refiners, blenders, and importers obligated to meet the renewable volume requirement must acquire sufficient RINs to demonstrate compliance. RINs can be traded and serve as the currency for the credit trading program.

“We are pleased to provide our biofuel producer customers an efficient, straightforward process to manage RIN compliance,” says Tom Angell, director of marketing for John Deere Agri Services. “By having the ability to communicate with the RINSTAR registry, our customers can focus on their business and reduce effort to meet Renewable Fuel Standard reporting requirements.”

“The renewable fuel registry interacts with more than 450 companies each day throughout the entire renewable fuel supply chain,” notes Clayton McMartin, president of the Clean Fuels Clearinghouse. “This partnership further expands the universe, bringing more certified RINs to the market and more confidence to the transactions.”

Biodiesel, Ethanol, John Deere, Miscellaneous, News

Ethanol Group Expands Board

Cindy Zimmerman

ACEThe American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) this week voted to expand its board of directors to add representation from key ethanol companies and grassroots organizations.

With the vote, four new members have been added to the board – Ron Fagen of Fagen, Inc; Greg Krissek of ICM; Todd Sneller with the Nebraska Ethanol Board; and Missouri Corn Growers Association CEO Gary Marshall.

The decision was made during the ACE annual business meeting which is held the day before the annual ACE Ethanol Conference & Trade Show begins. The conference starts today in Omaha.

ACE, Ethanol, News

USDA Increases Corn Crop and Ethanol Use

Cindy Zimmerman

Ideal summer growing conditions have helped the U.S. corn crop bounce back from flood damage, according to the latest report from USDA.

USDAThe August crop production forecast is now 12.3 billion bushels, nearly five percent higher than predicted last month. It is still down 6 percent from last year’s record, but up 17 percent from 2006.

The big story in the crop report is yields, which are now expected to average 155 bushels per acre, up 3.9 bushels from last year. If realized, this would be the second highest corn yield on record, behind 2004.

Meanwhile, today’s World Supply and Demand Estimates from USDA increases use of corn expected for feed and ethanol. Feed and residual use is raised 100 million bushels with the larger crop and lower expected prices. Ethanol use is raised 150 million bushels as increased supplies and lower prices
are expected to improve plant operating margins and capacity utilization rates. Exports are unchanged as increased competition from wheat feeding limits prospects for U.S. shipments. Ending stocks for U.S. corn are projected at 1.1 billion bushels, up 301 million bushels from last month.

corn, Ethanol, Government, News

Cellulosic Ethanol Demo Plant Opens in Montana

Cindy Zimmerman

A cellulosic ethanol demonstration plant opened Monday in Butte, Montana – reportedly the first such plant to integrate the use of both cellulose and starch based feedstocks.

AE BiofuelsCalifornia-based AE Biofuels celebrated the opening of its plant with various government representatives, including both U.S. senators and Governor Brian Schweitzer, who commented that he was proud “AE Biofuels’ groundbreaking technology was developed here in Montana.”

According to the company, the plant uses “proven, patent-pending Ambient Temperature Enzymes for converting cellulose and starch to fermentable sugars to optimize process conditions for multiple feedstocks. Non-food ethanol feedstocks used at the facility include switch grass, grass seed straw, small grain straw, sugarcane bagasse, and corn stalks either alone or in combination with a variety of traditional starch and sugar sources such as corn, wheat, barley, and sugarcane.”

The $1.5 million, 9000 square foot plant was privately funded. AE Biofuels officials say they plan to build a full-scale, $100 million production plant in the United States as early as next year.

Cellulosic, Ethanol, News